- Top-ranked Australian in men’s draw eases through first round
- World No 24 secures 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 victory against qualifier
Alex de Minaur was in Nick Kyrgios’s house, making himself at home, wooing the crowd as his own. One quiet Australian replacing another, very loud one, and finally having his time in the sun. It has been more than 24 hours since Kyrgios withdrew from the Australian Open injured, yet still he is somehow here, commanding the airwaves and column inches. Tuesday’s headlines were about the so-called feud between Kyrgios and De Minaur. Or, more accurately, Kyrgios’s denial that there is a feud, that they are “close mates on tour and he always will be”.
But though his ghost lingers, Kyrgios was not at John Cain Arena, the court he so loves and which loves him back in all its riotous glory. His withdrawal meant De Minaur’s first-round match was moved here, and it is De Minaur the locals came to see. What they witnessed was a professional, assertive straight-sets defeat of Taiwanese qualifier Hsu Yu Hsiou. He won 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 without fuss or bravado or antics of any kind. It would be fair to say De Minaur won unobtrusively, but also in a manner befitting a world No 24 who only a fortnight ago upset Rafael Nadal and in November saw off Daniil Medvedev.